


The Westeros Wing

by Agitated_Animator



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-15
Updated: 2015-07-16
Packaged: 2018-04-09 10:49:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4345649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agitated_Animator/pseuds/Agitated_Animator
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the year 2016 AC, Senator Stannis Baratheon runs for President. His advisors may call him the Politician that was Promised, but if he's going to have any chance of sitting in the Iron Office, he may need to overcome his greatest personal obstacle yet - his relationship with the public. Thankfully, his mysterious campaign advisor, Melisandre, has a secret weapon at her disposal - social media.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: The Lone Wolf Dies, but the Pack Survives

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aunt_zelda](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aunt_zelda/gifts).



> Note: The Major Character Death is Ned, just tagging to be safe. Additional Character Tags will be updated as I continue to write.
> 
> Done as a birthday present to one of my dearest friends in real life, Aunt_Zelda

_‘Established at the conclusion of the Westerosi Revolution, the Office of President has served as Westeros’s chief Executive Head of State for generations. Together with their Hand running-mates, the President represents all of Westeros on an international level while the Hand serves as their voice in the Assembly as they try to guide the nation on the President’s legislative agenda._

_In the rare event that a rival party has the majority in the Assembly, the President’s choice in Hand is often forced out in favor of one approved by the majority of the Assembly and a coalition government is formed in a situation known as Cohabitation. In the even more unlikely and sad event of a President’s death, the Hand will succeed them in office for the remainder of their term.’_

\- Excerpt from Professor Marwyn’s _“Introduction to Westerosi Politics”_

 

* * *

“They’ll be ready for you in ten minutes, Mr. President,” Jory Cassel relayed the message coming from his earpiece.

“Thank you, Jory,” President Eddard Stark said with a wave, dismissing his guard to return to his position in the hall. He paid the secret service officer little mind as he reviewed the bullet points of his upcoming speech.

“Don’t worry, my love, you can do this,” his wife, Catelyn, said, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. The weary smile she gave him filled Ned with even more comfort than he’d ever felt in the godswood back home in Winterfell.

He took a calming breath and set down the note cards of his speech. This PR tour around Westeros was taking its toll on him and Catelyn. The Assembly would be voting on his proposed labor reforms in the next month and he needed to drum up enough public support to sway the damn Lion Party to his cause. What had been groundbreaking reforms ushered in during Aegon V. Targaryen’s record breaking four terms were becoming less and less relevant with each passing year, particularly those involving jobs.

If Westeros was to stay ahead of the curve in this new computer age, it would need to pass laws regulating the ways people used this new technology before evil people found new ways to exploit others with it. Ned saw it has his duty as both a man and a politician to protect his citizens and keep major corporations from exploiting them through a veil of incomprehensible legal jargon.

“And if I can’t do it, our bill will fail and our chances for reelection or coalition with the Stag Party go up in smoke,” Ned spoke in a quiet tone as he and his wife held each other. “What will we do then, Cat?”

“We go home, raise our children, and enjoy retirement,” Cat answered with a smile.

“Retirement? Neither of us are even 45 yet,” Ned almost found himself laughing, despite it all.

“Well, you can take time to write your memoir,” the First Lady said before her smile became more playful. “Plus, you’ll get to tell all of Westeros ‘I told you so’ for the rest of your life when the Lions lead us to ruin.”

“Good point, Cat,” the President snorted. “Maybe we’d be better off if the bill lost.”

“Sadly, we both know that’s not the case,” Catelyn said, returning to her usual serious demeanor. “Go out there and do your duty, dear. The children and I will meet you at the hotel afterwards... Even Jon.”

The mention of Jon made Ned smile. Catelyn had not been pleased when he’d brought the bastard baby home all those years ago, but the media had been ecstatic. Ned knew the only reason she and the press had eventually given him any peace or privacy on the matter was because of his grief over Brandon and Lyanna. He’d hoped that in time Cat would come to care more for Jon Snow, or at the very least not resent the boy quite so much for the circumstances of his birth. He knew Cat cared for the boy, even if the media tried to shame the two of them for Jon’s existence, and for that he’d always be grateful.

Ned’s elder brother had been felled by an assassin’s bullet while campaigning for the Wolf Party’s nomination for the presidency. The posthumous exposure of Brandon’s affair with Ashara Dayne and the woman’s subsequent suicide stilled weighed heavily on Ned’s conscious all these years later.

Not six months after his brother’s death, his sister Lyanna died in a car accident with Rhaegar Targaryen when they crashed and drove off the Bridge of Joy in Dorne. The media spent ages speculating what she had been doing in a car with President Targaryen’s son and an equal amount of time mourning their loss. Ned and his remaining brother, Benjen, refused to comment on the matter to this day, despite the multiple books that had been written on the matter. There was no honor in soiling his sister’s memory by giving the vultures in the press the full details of Lyanna’s condition.

Ned shook his head and squared his shoulders. Now was not the time to dwell on the past. Not when he had the future of the entire nation to focus on. He kissed Cat goodbye and left the room, escorted by Jory and Vayon Poole, another Secret Service agent.

Eddard Stark collected his thoughts and focused his mind as he walked in silence down the hall toward the growing sounds of the gathered crowd. Whenever facing such an enormous crowd, Ned felt like a warrior going into battle against a Wildling hoard from days of old - scared, but facing it with grim determination. He was a Stark, and he knew his duty.

Brandon’s death may have briefly dashed their father’s grand ambitions, but Ned did took up the family legacy, ill-suited for it though he was. Brandon was the charmer who could work people over to his side, whether they were drunks in a bar, reporters, or rival politicians. He was so much like Senator Baratheon that Ned sometimes had to stop himself from accidentally calling his best friend by his late brother’s name.

The president stepped out of the darkness and into the bright light of King’s Landing. Even in the autumn, this place was too damn hot for Ned’s northern blood. He thanked the Old Gods every day that he wasn’t elected during the summer. The Iron Office was hot enough as it was, thank you very much.

The massive crowd gathered outside the ancient Sept of Baelor cheered as he ascended the steps to the podium. He wanted to show that this bill was the morally right thing to do, so his advisors suggested giving the speech in front of the massive house of worship to remind the public of that. The long-faced northman smiled and waved to the crowd as the teleprompter screen off to the side booted up.

Just as the applause died down, Ned saw Vayon Poole dive in front of him, blood exploding from his chest.

Ned heard and felt the second shot. Jory Cassel dove on top of him seconds too late, failing to stop the bullet that destroyed Ned's heart.

The screams of the crowd were a thousand miles away to Ned. His senses shrank to a pinpoint as darkness and blood consumed the edges of his vision. He felt more than saw the tears hitting his skin as the frantic Jory scrambled to stop what had to be so much of Ned's blood.

Eddard Stark felt his thoughts drift to the family he and Catelyn had brought into the world: Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran, Rickon, and “even Jon,” as Cat had said. Her voice faded and was replaced by that of Ned's father, the words he heard so often as a child:

_“The lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.”_

He prayed to the Old Gods and the New that his pack would be strong without him, now that he was returning to the pack into which he was born.

 

* * *

_‘Ask anyone over a certain age, and they’ll be able to tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing the day President Eddard “Ned” Stark was assassinated by rogue gunman Ilyn Payne. Stark’s death, which haunts Westeros to this day, has become the subject of numerous conspiracy theories by fringe members of society thanks to Payne’s complete and unnerving silence on the mater before his unexpected death while in police custody._

_The death of President Stark saw the ascension of the aging Hand, Jon Arryn of the Stag Party, to the Red House and the appointment of Stark’s lifelong friend, Senator Robert Baratheon to being Hand, unintentionally ensuring a new political power that would greatly change the face of Westerosi politics.’_

\- Excerpt from Professor Yandel’s _“The Thousand Days of Winterfell: The Legacy of President Stark”_


	2. Chapter 1: A Game of Polls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 17 years after President Stark's assassination, Westeros is a very different place. With a new presidential gearing up and a growing sentiment for a Northern Nationalist Movement, Senator Stannis Baratheon will have his hands full if he ever hopes to live in the Red House.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt bad claiming this as a Stannis-centric fic and then making the first chapter star Ned, so I cranked this out as quick as I could.
> 
> Apologies in advance for any formatting issues. AO3 is very different when it comes to chapter edits from fanfiction.net and I'm still not used to it.

_‘Despite his adamant denials that he was a StINO (Stag In Name Only), President Robert Baratheon’s critics were likely right when they said he didn’t exert his authority enough to push through legislation that the Stag Party had been trying to pass for years. The likely causes for his hands off approach stem from the increasingly strained Cohabitation between the Stags and the Lions in the assembly, President Baratheon’s increasingly unhappy marriage, and the rumors of his worsening depression and alcoholism in the wake of the tragic and unexpected deaths of so many of his friends, most notably, the late President Eddard Stark._

_Through clever use of gerrymandering to strengthen their hold on key districts and a series of successive political and sexual scandals in the Stag and Dragon Parties, the Lion party made great electoral strides during Baratheon’s Presidency to galvanize an increasingly vocal religious base, ensuring that they had a near indomitable majority in both the House of Smallfolk and Senate of the Westerosi Assembly by the time Baratheon left office._

_From the end of his presidency and until his unexpected death in 2013 AC, Baratheon maintained his claim that his leniency on what should normally be his party’s political rivals had nothing to do with his father-in-law, Tywin Lannister, being one of the Lion Party’s biggest contributors.’_

\- Excerpt from Joyce Kenning-Goodbrook’s _“Among the Lions: The Rise of the Moral Majority”_

 

* * *

Senator Stannis Baratheon had to keep himself from grinding his teeth as he scanned the front page of the _Riverlands Review_. He sat at the head of the table in the small room in the back of his campaign headquarters. Scattered around him were a dozen different newspapers, each displaying their respective voter interest polls, each claiming to be the most accurate and reliable in Westeros.

Despite that, they had all come to a consensus at the moment - he was polling in third place.

“It’s just a slight dip,” Stannis's running-mate, Davos Seaworth, grinned as he walked in to join the rest of Stannis's Campaign's inner-circle. “You’ll bounce back when they see you in the first debate.”

“And since when do you care about what Poll Numbers say?” asked his wife Selyse from across the room as she said a prayer over her breakfast, something she’d been doing in morning campaign meetings for so long now it was a tradition.

“I care when they come from some of the only papers in all of Westeros not controlled by Tywin Lannister,” Stannis scowled. “I'm effectively tied with that Targaryan girl, and barely ahead of bloody Greyjoy.”

“It's okay, Daddy, you'll win for sure,” his 14 year old daughter, Shireen, smiled as she alternated between playing with her Alpha-Bits cereal and scrolling through pictures on her phone. “Miss Melisandre says so.”

Stannis certainly hoped so. Thanks to his brother’s laissez-faire management, the Stag party had been losing several of its traditional Assembly seats in recent years, so even if Stannis found himself sitting in the Iron Office by the end of the year, he might be doing so with an Assembly full of Lions and Wolves to contend with.

Still, that would be better than dealing with the Dragon, or God forbid, the Squid Party, which existed out on the fringes of sanity and decency.

“I only say what I see in my test polling,” the tall and curvy redhead said as she finally entered the room, typing something up on her tablet. “Stannis will be President and save all of Westeros from the coming evil.”

Stannis had the grace not to comment that quite a lot of evil had come to Westeros already. They were up their eyeballs in debt to Bravos and YiTi, stuck in a quagmire of a war in Ulthos, and facing a growing public approval for a Northern Secession Movement. And that wasn't even getting into the deadlocked Assembly that couldn't make up its mind about anything regarding healthcare, guns, or retirement benefits, let alone the looming economic crisis. Things couldn't get much worse - short of the apocalypse at least.

“Of course he will be,” Selyse agreed in that eager puppy tone she often used when talking to Melisandre. “He is the Politician that was Promised; the only man qualified to lead us.”

“Now if only we could convince the public of that,” Davos sighed.

“It would be far easier to do so if it weren't for those snakes at Hound News, Baelish and Clegane,” Stannis scowled, grinding his teeth despite the frustrated pleas of his dentist ringing in the back of his mind.

“If only Cersei Lannister needed to get funding from somewhere other than her daddy's gold vaults,” Selyse said with a distasteful sneer. She never liked the woman who was once their sister-in-law and took every opportunity she could to complain about the Lannister woman; not that Stannis blamed her - Cersei was truly insufferable in every private interaction they’d had, and that was before they became political rivals.

Melisandre quickly shoved her tablet into Stannis’s personal space, displaying a list of potential speaking locations and photo opportunities. “Perhaps furthering our PR efforts would help things,” the redhead said in a tone Stannis had come to associate with the woman trying to convince something he did not want to do. Hopefully it wouldn’t be _another_ appearance on _Good Morning Westeros_. “You could finally go on the _7 Sparrow Club_ and discuss the Lord of Light with them. Try humanizing and demystifying R'hllorism to the fools who don’t understand our ways.”

Stannis did not want to do that. Worshiping the Lord of Light was Selyse’s territory, not his. Truthfully, Stannis hadn’t worshipped any god since his parents were taken from him at such a young age. But as his first run for the Westerosi Assemby taught him, the general public had this odd notion that a man could only be trusted with power if they allowed themselves to suffer from a religious bias of some sort. It didn’t seem to particularly mater to the masses what god their elected officials worshiped, so long as they claimed one. And so Stannis claimed R'hllor, both because of his wife’s recent conversion, but also because of what a miracle worker Melisandre was when it came to poll results and Public Relations. The fact that the scarlet haired woman thought he was favored by her God helped too.

“You could also try sitting down with Tyrion Lannister,” Stannis’s intern and aide, Devan Seaworth, spoke up in a nervous tone as he looked up from his computer in the corner. “You’re the only candidate who hasn’t appeared on _Half Hour with the Half Man_ yet.”

“That’s because my husband will not make a fool of himself and disrespect the dignity of the office,” Selyse snapped at the young intern. “It’s not our fault that there are so many fools in Westeros who vote for the candidate they’d like to have a drink with.”

“Many things would make our lives easier,” Stannis scowled as he reached for another newspaper. “But if our enemies weren’t so numerous or corrupt, it wouldn’t be my duty to run.”

His eyes skimmed over a headline from one of the trashier papers speculating over Robb Stark’s relationship with a staffer and the effect it might have on the young Senator’s engagement to Roslin Frey. Stannis had been around long enough to know how this potential Stark sex scandal would end; young Robb would apologize on television, smile charmingly, and be forgiven for his transactions just like every other Stark before him.

Stannis sighed through a tightly clenched jaw and made a decision.

“Someone book me an appointment with Tyrion Lannister.”

 

* * *

For the umpteenth time, Jon Snow suppressed a sigh as he saw his brother and Jeyne Westerling stand far too close and laugh far too much for what should be a simple report of poll numbers. Three months ago, it had been that nurse, Talisa who jeopardized his brother’s engagement and election; now it was one of their own staffers.

Didn’t Robb know how much it hurt him when he went galavanting about with women who he wasn’t engaged to? Jon knew far too well how cruel the media could be to politicians involved in a sex scandal, especially if a child was conceived on the wrong side of the sheets. To this day, Jon’s existence was the only black spot on the otherwise sterling image and legacy of his father, Eddard Stark.

Growing up, Jon knew a part of his adoptive mother, Catelyn, resented having his presence in the house because of the constant accusations by the media. The official story was that Jon was an orphan who had been adopted by Ned Stark after his birth mother died, but one needed to only look at Jon and Ned to know they must be father and son. The fact that Jon’s father only ever put up the most token of denials was all the proof Jon and the rest of the world needed.

Jon often wondered what made his father break his marriage vows and father a bastard like him; it seemed so out of character for a man so dedicated to duty and honor. But whenever he’d ask about his mother as a boy, his dad became a closed off wall of ice. Sometimes, he’d say to Jon that’d he’d explain things when he was older, but a nutjob with a gun ensured that Jon and his father would never have that long-awaited conversation.

Jon was brought back to the present by a stern cough from his side.

“Do you want to do the intervention or should I?” Catelyn Stark asked with a disapproving look towards the aspiring presidential candidate and his pretty staffer. Having turned 60 last year, the former First Lady’s once vibrant auburn hair had gone almost completely white, but other than that, she’d aged quite gracefully.

“Shouldn’t it be you?” Jon asked in an awkward tone. “A mother never loses the ability to shame her son.”

“There’s very little I’ve been able to convince him of since Senators Umber and Manderly put those presidential ideas in his head,” Catelyn sighed. “Or have you been too busy brooding to notice?”

“More like too busy trying to make the youngest senator also the youngest president,” Jon responded in an overly harsh tone that he instantly regretted. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I’m just worried that Robb’s numbers are nothing but name recognition and that in a month, people will realize how crazy his campaign is.”

“That’s a good fear to have, it’ll keep your brother grounded.”

Wanting to brighten the mood, Jon tried changing the subject. “Speaking of brothers, how are Bran and Rickon? I feel like I haven’t seen them in ages.”

“Bran’s doing well enough. Once the semester ends, he’s hoping to take his new leg on a test drive and go skiing with Sansa. Rickon? Well...”

At the mention of her youngest child, First Lady Catelyn trailed off. Much like Jon’s parentage, Rickon’s activities in college were an uncomfortable family subject that nobody liked thinking about too much. Jon knew his littlest brother had a good heart, but also knew that the 19 year old was a wild and reckless party animal who seemed to go into withdrawal if he didn’t get into at least one bar fight per month. The fact that most of them seemed to involve him defending a girl’s honor was the only reason it hadn’t blown up more in the newspapers.

“I’m sure he’ll mellow out eventually,” Jon tried answering. “Gods know Arya was a hellion when she was younger, but she’s doing fine now.”

Catelyn snorted. “Arya’s _still_ a hellion. She just focuses her destructive energy on one thing at a time now.”

 

* * *

The skinny brunette girl prayed to the Old Gods and the New that the blond man in the suit didn’t recognize her. For this plan to work, she needed to be a nobody, or at the very least not the daughter of a former president. She’d stayed out the public eye compared to her pretty reporter of a sister, so she was less instantly recognizable. Hopefully her new haircut would help with that too.

The boys on either side of her, Hot Pie and Gendry, would have no problem getting in, they actually were nobodies, just a couple of her friends from college who thought this crazy plan of hers seemed like it would be their shot at the big time.

The blond guy, _Justin_ , she reminded herself, put down the binder they’d given him and gave the recent college grads a level look. “Let me get this straight, you three will work the entire campaign for free if we let you film a short documentary about Stannis’s election?”

“Uh-huh,” the rotund Hot Pie answered with a nervous glance to the other two.

“You three actually _like_ Stannis?” Justin Massey asked, utterly baffled.

“Well, uh, he’d be a better President than Governor Lannister,” Gendry said, trying to sound like he actually cared about politics as opposed to simply wanting to help his friends with their work.

“A White Walker would be a better choice than Cersei Lannister,” Massey scoffed before composing himself. “Still, as much as I don’t mind the idea, I’m only the Volunteer Coordinator. If you want to film anything, you’ll need to get permission from Mellisandre or Senator Baratheon himself.”

“Do you know when we can meet with them with our proposal then?” the girl asked in a hopeful tone.

“Probably at the end of the week, Kat,” Justin said with an easy smile that he probably used on anyone wearing a skirt. “Stannis is a bit distracted at the moment preparing for his interview with Tyrion Lannister, but maybe one of Seaworth’s kids can pass your inquiry along.”

Kat Mercy, or as she was really known, Arya Stark, smiled and shook the man’s hand.

Her brother may have said he didn’t need her help getting elected, but Arya had other ways she could help Robb, even if the rest of the family wouldn’t approve. Stannis Baratheon was so quiet about his private life that he had to be hiding something. There’d been more than enough rumors over the years, and Arya was going to find out whatever she could before her cover was blown.

 

* * *

_‘Though traditionally, the Wolf and Stag parties were allies so strong that the Wolves were once seen as the northern branch of the Stag Party, fractures in that relationship began to appear with the election of Eddard Stark, as the more religious members of the mostly Faith of the Seven-worshiping Stag Party were uncomfortable with the idea of an Old Gods-worshiping president. However, the real break didn’t occur until Robert Baratheon was elected to a second term in office with a Lion-dominated Assembly._

_Growing frustration with southern politics and the general sentiment that they were being ignored in both houses of the Assembly led to a growing desire for a Northern Secession Movement. There have been multiple attempts in the past decade to move the issue to a vote, but the matter has consistently been blocked or postponed by members of the Lion, Stag, and Dragon parties, making it one of the most unusual alliances in Westerosi political history._

_Growing frustration with their seeming lack of presence in the Assembly has led to a slow, but noticeable rise in Wolf Party numbers in both the North and the Riverlands, all but guaranteeing that this will be one of the hot button issues in the next Presidential Election.’_

\- Excerpt from Time Magazine’s Article _“Pack Separation: Why the Northern Independence Referendum Matters” _by Rodrik Harlaw__


End file.
